As I mentioned in a previous blog about the 90-day planning cycle, very few small businesses have a plan! There is usually truth behind clichés and the one ‘failing to plan is planning to fail’ comes to mind …

Not that it is inevitable, but not planning is a risky approach. Adopting the 90-day planning cycle should evolve from a larger broader plan with longer-term goals; a 5 year plan is an excellent place to start and where I begin with the majority of my clients.

“But why a 5-year plan?”

Because, without clear written long-term goals, it’s challenging for you, your staff, your suppliers and other stakeholders to have clarity on what needs doing and to help you make progress in the right direction.

Vision and leadership is a big part of it; it’s human nature that we follow natural leaders so get your staff inspired, and they’ll help push you further ahead. Trying to inspire people with vague goals, or worse, no goals at all, is challenging at best.

I always think one of the best examples of ‘vision’ comes from Steve Jobs, whose powerful vision inspired many to make Apple what it is today. A vision that is bold, simple and consistently communicated will form a big part of your business’s identity, and your team should be clear on this.

As well as your business goals, your personal ones need to be included in the 5-year plan because the two are intrinsically linked:

  • Why did you go into business in the first place?

  • Do you want to be able to work a 4-day week?

  • Take a certain number of holidays a year?

  • Buy a bigger house for your family?

Would you ultimately like to build a team that allows you not to work in the business day-to-day at all?

Armed with these goals, you can begin to work out how much money you need the business to bring in to make it all happen, and then what business goals you need to achieve to hit those figures!

Initial steps to take:

  • Get clarity on your personal goals by writing them down and working out a financial figure needed to achieve them.

  • With that in mind, write a description of where your business will be in 5 years time, eg revenue, profit, number of staff, number of offices, services you provide.

  • Think about your vision for your business. Why does it exist? How will that vision inspire others?

  • Write 5 clear goals for your business, that are specific and measurable and break them down into 4, 3, 2 and 1 year goals.

  • What are your company’s values? Write them down and think about how they can easily be communicated to all stakeholders.

Having a clear vision and goals for your business provides clarity and allows you and your team to make better decisions. For each decision, you can weigh it up against your goals and think, “Will this help me work towards achieving my goal, move me further away or make no difference?“. Clarity on this promotes faster growth, but it’s surprising how many business owners don’t make key decisions using this process.